Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark (film)
| screenplay = | story = | based on = | starring = | music = | cinematography = Roman Osin | editing = Patrick Larsgaard | studio = | distributor = Lionsgate | released = | runtime = 108 minutes | country = | language = English | budget = $25 million | gross = $55.4 million }} 'Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark' is a 2019 horror film directed by André Øvredal, based on the children's book series of the same name by Alvin Schwartz. The screenplay was adapted by Dan and Kevin Hageman, from a screen story by producer Guillermo del Toro, as well as Patrick Melton and Marcus Dunstan. The film, an international co-production of the United States and Canada, stars Zoe Colletti, Michael Garza, Gabriel Rush, Austin Zajur, Natalie Ganzhorn, Austin Abrams, Dean Norris, Gil Bellows, and Lorraine Toussaint. In 2013, CBS Films acquired the rights to the book series with the intent of producing it as a feature film. By January 2016 it was announced that del Toro would develop and potentially direct the project for CBS Films. Øvredal was later to set to direct the film, with del Toro, Daniel, Brown, and Grave being among the producers. Principal photography commenced on August 27, 2018, and ended on November 1, 2018, in St. Thomas, Ontario, Canada. ''Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark was theatrically released on August 9, 2019, by Lionsgate. The film received generally positive reviews from critics, with many praising the horror elements, though some criticized the screenplay and overuse of jumpscares. Plot On Halloween night in 1968, three teenagers in the small town of Mill Valley, Pennsylvania, horror-obsessed amateur writer Stella and her friends Auggie and Chuck, along with drifter Ramon, play a prank on school bully Tommy Milner. The group explores a local haunted house which belonged to the Bellows family who helped found the town. Inside, they find a secret room and a book of scary stories belonging to Sarah Bellows, who has been removed from all family photographs. Tommy locks them inside the room along with his girlfriend, who is Chuck's sister Ruth. They are released by an unseen presence and escape. In her room, Stella discovers that a new story named "Harold" is being written in Sarah's book and the main character is Tommy. Tommy is stalked by a scarecrow called Harold and is stabbed by the creature before vomiting hay and transforming. Unsettled, Stella and Ramon investigate and find a scarecrow wearing Tommy's clothes. Though Stella is convinced that Tommy has been turned into a scarecrow, the others are skeptical. That night, Stella and Ramon witness a new story being written titled "The Big Toe" with Auggie as the main character. The pair attempt to warn him of the threat - a living corpse looking for its missing toe which is inside a stew that Auggie unwittingly eats. Auggie is attacked by the corpse and dragged under his bed, disappearing. Terrified and realizing they are next, the group try and fail to destroy the book before deciding to research Sarah Bellows's past to find a way to stop the hauntings. Ruth discovers a spider bite on her cheek as a new story with her as the main character is written: "The Red Spot." She attempts to squeeze her bite but the spot explodes and releases hundreds of spiders upon her. The group finds her and gets rid of the spiders. Ruth is taken to the hospital, traumatized but alive. The group's investigations take them to a psychiatric hospital where they discover Sarah's brother Ephraim was performing electroshock therapy on her to hide the fact that the family's mill had been poisoning the town's water with mercury, killing children. Chuck is attacked by "The Pale Lady", a phantom from his recurring nightmares. Stella and Ramon find Chuck's pen as the only thing left of him before they are arrested by Police Chief Turner, who reveals that Ramon is a draft dodger. In their cells, Ramon reveals he skipped the draft as his brother was sent home "in pieces," making him scared of serving in the army. Turner's dog begins to act strangely and Ramon realizes the next creature will be The Jangly Man, a monster from a campfire story ("Me Tie Dough-ty Walker") that scared him. The Jangly Man, able to build itself from body parts, kills Turner before attempting to kill Ramon. The pair escapes their cells and Ramon tries to lure the creature away while Stella goes to the Bellows house to try to reason with Sarah. Stella is taken back in time and witnesses Ephraim terrorizing Sarah before encountering her ghost. In the present, Ramon is hunted by The Jangly Man in the Bellows House. Stella begins tearfully reciting the real story of Sarah Bellows: she was victimized by her family for trying to reveal the truth, which turned her into a rage-filled monster. Sarah used the power of the book to kill her family but was unable to move on and kept killing anyone who removed her book. Stella promises to tell Sarah's real story if she stops killing. Sarah forces Stella to write her story in the book in blood before she and The Jangly Man vanish. Ramon finally enlists in the army while Stella, with the book in her possession, sets out with her father and a recovered Ruth to try to find a way to bring Auggie and Chuck back. Cast * Zoe Colletti as Stella Nicholls * Michael Garza as Ramón Morales * Gabriel Rush as August "Auggie" Hilderbrandt * Austin Zajur as Charlie "Chuck" Steinberg * Natalie Ganzhorn as Ruth “Ruthie” Steinberg * Austin Abrams as Tommy Milner * Dean Norris as Deputy Roy Nicholls * Gil Bellows as Police Chief Turner * Lorraine Toussaint as Louise "Lou Lou" Baptiste * Marie Ward as Mrs. Hilderbrandt * Matt Smith as Mr. Steinberg * Karen Glave as Claire Baptiste The Monsters * Javier Botet as The Toe Monster * Troy James as Jangly Man ** Andrew Jackson as the voice of the Jangly Man * Mark Steger as Harold the Scarecrow and the Pale Lady The Bellows Family * Kathleen Pollard as Sarah Bellows * Will Carr as Dr. Ephraim Bellows ** Elias Edraki as the voice of Dr. Ephraim Bellows * Jane Moffat as Delanie Bellows * Amanda Smith as Gertrude Bellows * Brandon Knox as Harold Bellows Production In 2013, CBS Films acquired the rights to the Alvin Schwartz's children's book series Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, with the intent of producing it as a potential feature film. It was announced in 2014 that writer John August had been set to pen a film version. On January 14, 2016, it was announced that Guillermo del Toro would develop the film, as well as possibly direct, and that he would also produce along with Sean Daniel, Jason Brown, and Elizabeth Grave. In February 2016, CBS Films hired screenwriting brothers duo Dan and Kevin Hageman to polish the draft written by August. In December 2017, it was reported that André Øvredal would direct the film. The Hagemans received final screenplay credit, with del Toro, Patrick Melton, and Marcus Dunstan receiving "story by" credit. CBS Films co-financed with Entertainment One. In August 2018, Zoe Colletti, Michael Garza, Austin Abrams, Gabriel Rush, Austin Zajur, and Natalie Ganzhorn joined the cast. In September 2018, Dean Norris, Gil Bellows, Lorraine Toussaint, and Javier Botet were added as well. Principal photography commenced on August 27, 2018, and ended on November 1, 2018, in St. Thomas, Ontario. In July 2019, at the San Diego Comic-Con, del Toro explained why Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark was not produced as an anthology film: I remembered in Pan's Labyrinth, I created a book called 'the Book of Crossroads'. I thought it could be great if we had a book that reads you, and it writes what you're most afraid of. Then the theme became stories we tell each other." }} Release The first footage of the film premiered during Super Bowl LIII. The first trailer was released on March 28, 2019, and the second on June 3, 2019. On August 5, 2019, a third trailer was released, featuring a cover version of the Donovan song "Season of the Witch", by Lana Del Rey, performed for the film's soundtrack. All-in-all, the studio spent over $20 million promoting the film. The film was theatrically released in the United States on August 9, 2019, by Lionsgate and CBS Films. Reception Box office , Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark has grossed $41.3 million in the United States and Canada, and $14.1 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $55.4 million. In the United States and Canada, Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark was released alongside The Kitchen, Dora and the Lost City of Gold, The Art of Racing in the Rain, and Brian Banks, and was projected to gross $15–17 million from 3,000 theaters in its opening weekend. The film made $8.8 million on its first day, including $2.33 million from Thursday night previews. It went on to debut to $20.8 million, finishing second, behind holdover Hobbs & Shaw. It dropped 52% in its second weekend to $10.1 million, finishing fifth. Critical response On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 81% based on 158 reviews, with an average rating of 6.62/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Like the bestselling series of books that inspired it, Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark opens a creepy gateway into horror for younger genre enthusiasts." Metacritic gave the film a weighted average score of 62 out of 100, based on 28 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews." Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "C" on an A+ to F scale, while those at PostTrak gave it an average 3 out of 5 stars and a 53% "definite recommend." Owen Gleiberman of Variety wrote that "the movie faithfully re-creates the peak moments of half a dozen of Schwartz' most popular stories," but "doesn't totally embrace the Gammell vision," referring to the infamy of the illustrations in the original book series. Ben Kenisberg of The New York Times called the film "an agreeable bit of fan service." Keith Uhlich of The Hollywood Reporter conversely termed it a "lackluster adaptation," adding that the monsters depicted in the film are "scary," though "they'd be much more so if they felt less like franchisable IP and more like fervent expressions of the ills of the eras on which the film aims to comment." William Bibbiani of Bloody Disgusting wrote that the film "often works very well for several, breathless minutes at a time. But in between those excellent scares there's a lot of filler, a lot of perfunctory plotting and a lot of mediocre character development." References External links * * *Official Website https://www.scarystoriestotellinthedark.com Category:2010s ghost films Category:2019 horror films Category:American ghost films Category:American children's films Category:American monster movies Category:American supernatural horror films Category:Canadian children's films Category:Canadian horror films Category:CBS Films films Category:Entertainment One films Category:Films about Halloween Category:Films based on horror novels Category:Films directed by André Øvredal Category:Films produced by Guillermo del Toro Category:Films set in 1966 Category:Films set in 1968 Category:Films set in Pennsylvania Category:Films with screenplays by Guillermo del Toro Category:2010s supernatural horror films Category:Lions Gate Entertainment films